Sunday, December 04, 2011

Where are your friends????

Throughout our lives we meet people, some are simply just folks we see in passing, a glance, a tip of a hat, or other less friendly gesture, and some become acquaintances who weave themselves in and out of our lives for myriads of reasons, some good, some not, but from time to time much less often than not you meet someone you can call a friend. We all have friends. We have friends from childhood, friends from high school and college, friends from work or professional relationships, and social friends.

When a person becomes your friend or you become theirs as a rule a bond forms that last a lifetime. Of course this bond might simply be an indelible memory of the person, but a bond forms nonetheless, assuming that the friendship was in fact a real friendship, one that was based on mutual respect, trust, admiration, and in many cases love. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a deep love of my friends. There are times that I don’t particularly like certain friends, or that a friend may fall out of favor for one reason or another, but as a Christian I would like to believe I love them in some meaningful way, and hope they do the same regardless of their momentary status.

When I grew up there were no cellular telephones, no personal computers, no internet, life was pretty simple. I man a met recently that lives down in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia said, if someone wants to get in touch with me, they know where to find me. I have a phone at my house, and if I’m not home someone knows where I am. Wow, did that somehow make a whole lot of sense. That is the way it used to be before technology became our way of life and before the age of instant gratification settled in on all of us. Here and now has to be better right? It makes me wonder sometimes… but I digress. Social Networking works for a reason. It works because it takes the effort out of doing what I just described, staying in touch, or going to find someone. That’s not evil, it is however our reality, and an evil we should be at least somewhat weary of when we lay our heads down at night.

So what’s my point in babbling on about all of this with friendship stuff and old and new. It’s a sad point and one I am not very proud of frankly. I suppose there’s an app for it, but since I don’t have an iPhone along with most of the country, I’ll just come out with it… It sucks to lose someone and not find out about it until months or well several years later. Yes, that’s right people die and people don’t know that they died and it sucks when they find out. There I said it. It sucks more when they realize how bad they feel for themselves that they didn’t do what they should have done to keep in touch, to be a better friend. It’s guilt, its remorse, its sadness, and it’s grief, but it’s also fact. We all have lives that are busy and we all lose track of folks we care about. We don’t stop caring, people grow apart and go their separate ways from time to time; that’s no one’s fault, but it does happen all too often. Then there are people that move away, you might be one of them. I’m one of them. I moved and I left a forwarding address to some, to others I didn’t but I certainly wasn’t unable to be found, “someone knew where I was”.

Now that Facebook, its predecessor MySpace, and the much more thrifty Twitter are available, along with the many Classmate and Reunion websites, it’s possible for most people who want to be found to be found. In some cases it’s impossible not to be found with all the data available online. There are new entries to the market as well Google’s Google Plus with Circle’s is fast growing amongst the more tech savvy crowd, and with those who want a more private environment than Facebook in which to wonder about . I’m on all of them, but I prefer the Twitter arena personally. Google Plus remains largely unexplored however.

Anyway, back to the point, the point being that I’m sad. I’m sad that I sucked as a friend to a couple of people who in some way I could have benefited, I’ll never know. I was too involved in my own life doing unimportant things that didn’t change the world, or even my world, but seemed important at the time, too important to take time to find out what was happening in the lives of those I cared about. Perhaps I am being too hard on myself here, perhaps a little melodramatic. I’m trying to drive home a point, and that is that as Christmas approaches and you send out your “CHRISTMAS CARDS” (Okay I send out some secular cards too) that a once a year remembrance of people just isn’t enough. They might not be there in January, or March, or June. Next year when your Christmas card comes back return to sender you may not have enough money to buy postage to get it to the forwarding address, I hear that Heaven is a long way off, and well paper doesn’t keep well at the “other address”. The bottom line is we all need to do better. We all need to be better, and we should try to find ways to appreciate the friends we have. Of course Social Networking is a great way to keep in touch, but it’s not really the end all be all. If you’re close, you should do some face time.

I stopped reading newspapers some time ago because they were too depressing and well for the most part beyond the front page and the sports section I really didn’t get much out of them. Even when I did buy them I rarely ever looked at the obituaries. Sadly enough to say I did that more often when I was growing up having lost so many friends in those formative years. Perhaps now that should be the one section I should read, certainly it’s one I’ve missed at least twice in the last several years. Forgoing that I will turn to Google e-mail alerts for news, at least then at least I won’t miss an obituary. The holiday season gives us much to reflect upon, but nothing more important to ponder than our relationships with others. They are more precious than any dollars we spend at any store, more valuable than any gift we can give or receive. We only get one life, we only get a few friends, let’s all try not to forget that long past the day the decorations get put back in the boxes after New Years.



Monday, August 29, 2011

FULL MEDIA DISCLOSURE - SHOW US THE MONEY!

As we enter into a new campaign season, why don't we ask our media to do something new and refreshing? Why don't we demand a little transparency on their part for a change? We don't need to require them to disclose their closely held sources, that would jeopardize their journalistic ethics, but we do need to know who is paying their bills. What campaigns or outside interest groups are funneling money to them? Full disclosure to the American people all the time, at the beginning of every broadcast, on the front page of every newspaper, and on the cover of every publication should be a standard the media lives by. We deserve to know how the political money is being spent without having to dig through a mountain of paper over at the FEC. If they can report what's going on in a campaign, they can sure as hell report what they are being paid to run advertisements by campaigns. If it runs on their air or in their publication, we need to know what they received for it and where it came from, period.

Why has no one has demanded this on a Sunday Talk Show in the past. Why this is is so inside politics that it beyond the reach of average American's who truly deserve to know. Who is afraid for this information to become public? Are the advertisers ashamed of their handy work? No one is asking for disclosure from the advertising agencies. This is simply a call for who is paying to put it out there on the air waves and in print. Is the media afraid? Is the media ashamed? Whether the money comes from, Union members, Special Interest PACs, Political Parties, Candidates Campaign Funds, Corporations, or Individuals, media outlets have an obligation to report who is spending what, and no one knows better than they do because they are sending out the bills.

So here is a challenge to all the media… conservative and liberal media alike, are you true patriots or are you afraid a little of the scrutiny you happily dish out? The real campaign is about to begin, can we the American people count on you to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about how much is being paid for what we see on your air and in your publications and from whom you receive payment? Yes we hear and see the FEC disclaimers… this ad is paid for by… but who is that really? Are you really going to share that? America is waiting….

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Defending Emily Fields

When Non Profit groups like the Florida Family Foundation pressure advertisers like General Mills to pull their support from quality programming like ABC Family’s show “Pretty Little Liars” we all suffer. First Amendment issues notwithstanding; the real issue here is whether we as a people are prepared to accept reality and deal with situations that at times can make us uncomfortable; in this case two young women kissing. One would have thought that Norman Lear crushed that barrier with his cutting edge 1970’s series “All in the Family” on CBS when America was force fed the reality of bigotry in Prime Time. From that point on it became clear to everyone that the television industry had more than token black and strong dominant participation. A whole host of programming was born and for the better. It did not take long before barriers fell for the homosexual community as well, albeit in predominantly male roles.

Here we find ourselves some four decades after a bigoted Archie Bunker came to the realization that he had to accept the first successful human heart transplant operation was from a black man to a white man, and somehow as a nation we cannot get passed the image of two young women sharing an intimate moment coming into our living rooms. Never mind the fact that the argument to used to get the advertisers to pull their support from the program had very little to do with the mission statement of the organization promoting the action. Pretty Little Liars is not a show about children; it is a show about older adolescent teenagers. Emily Fields the subject of all the Ire is one of four main characters and of many story lines of the program. Emily has come to discover that she is not attracted to young men like her friends (Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Aria Montgomery), learning to kiss with her murdered friend Alison DiLaurentis and she begins to experiment with young women, finally realizing her sexuality. Emily also had to deal with the threat of being exposed by a mysterious nemesis “A” a yet undiscovered character causing chaos and mischief for all four of the Pretty Little Liars.

This matter was handled tastefully and in a serious way. It was not extraneous frivolity strewn across the small screen for the delight of perversion. Emily faces serious dilemmas within herself, her closest trusted friends, and finally her parents. Her mother initially rejected her as broken. Emily’s father away in the military and a very conservative man returned home to face a household in disarray and a daughter confused and in distress. At the same time Emily was falling in love with a girl, one who used marijuana, and who was whisked out of her life almost as quickly as she had entered. Emily continues to meet new people into the second season, but still burns a candle for her first love.

This is not about Promoting Traditional Biblical Values or Christianity. This is about wholesale abuse of the First Amendment by radical extremists who claim to represent a Godly view. Any decent self respecting Christian with a cursory knowledge of the four gospels of the New Testament would be able to tell you that Christ did not preach judgment to the masses, nor did he preach disassociation due to differences. He healed the sick including lepers, the blind, the deaf, the crippled and the possessed. He forgave the prostitute and the adulteress woman and sent them on their way to sin no more. He turned the other cheek at his own crucifixion. These are not the values that persecute a little girl who finds herself dealing with her sexuality. These are not the values that demand advertisers run away from a series telling a story that deals with issues which are prevalent in our society and require thoughtful and sincere discourse. These are quite simply displays of bigotry, cowardice, and most importantly ignorance that have no place in a society that prides itself on being open and forthright. Shame on them!

All of the advertisers knew when they signed on to this project exactly what they were getting. The show has never been billed as a Disney style G rated feel good series. The basis of the show is about telling lies and keeping secrets between friends, and all the havoc that goes along with keep that up. All of the girls date and each have seen sexual situations presented in the show, but certainly nothing flamboyant in nature. Of course having a few murders and some great fashion thrown in as a bonus can’t hurt the marketing, and the stars are all attractive. The producers, writers, and cast are committed to delivering outstanding programming. Excellent veteran actors, among them Holly Marie Combs, Laura Leighton, Chad Lowe and Nia Peeples backstop the main cast.

While I do not believe in retaliatory boycotts, mainly because the retailer is the one that suffers, not the advertiser, our voices do need to be heard. Call and Write General Mills, Call, Write the Florida Family Foundation, and let them know how you feel about the show and how they have conducted themselves regarding this miscarriage of justice. Tweet and e-mail your friends, because pressure works both ways.

Monday, June 06, 2011

THE INTERNET IS A HUMAN RIGHT - SO SAYS THE UN

Well, I'll say this... Free speech is a Human Right. There are many ways to exercise free speech and the Internet does not constitute the primary mode folks in the world communicate, that would be necessarily true because most of the world isn't hooked in to the Internet in any meaningful way if at all. In fact, the Internet in terms of free speech is a "Johnny Come Lately". That's not said to diminish its importance, simply to put into perspective thousands of years of communications that have taken place without the Internet. For the UN to declare anything a Human Right at this point is pretty pointless given that the UN channels a great deal of the money it's given to it's own bureaucracy and quite frankly graft. Their real idea of a Human right is not having to pay parking tickets all over Manhattan. The rest of New York has to pony up or get booted. The bottom line here is that until someone from the UN is willing to pay my Internet bill, its not a Human Right at all... It's just a declaration of pompous asses trying to justify their own existence in an ivory tower funded by far too much US taxpayer money. Sorry UN, better luck next time. Oh, you might go for Electricity or Gasoline next, they're really expensive these days...

Monday, April 18, 2011

GAS PRICES ARE CRIPPLING THE ECONOMY! WHAT CAN BE DONE?

It should come as no surprise to you that your wallet or purse is a lot lighter than it used to be, and that your credit or debit card has a lot more wear than it has had of late because of the amount of use it has had at the gas pump. Gasoline prices have taken a big bite out of everyone's budgets and we all have cut back on the other spending we normally do. We have stopped buying extra food items at the grocery store. We have stopped having auto repairs if they can possibly wait. We will wait for a movie to come to DVD or Netflix rather than spend the money to go to the theater. We have even made conscious decisions to make coffee at home instead of stopping at Starbucks.... what's the world coming to... the prices keep going up and up and there isn't a thing as consumers we can do to stop it.

Well, what is causing the constant increases in price. Is there a shortage of gas because of the trouble in the Middle East? No, there is no shortage of crude oil on the market. The is plenty of supply and inventory, that is not the problem. The problem is speculation in the commodities markets and that is not necessarily associated with any specific reality. Those markets are driven by emotions, feelings, and sometimes pure conjecture. People bet on what might happen based on what might be happening months and months from now assuming facts that do not yet exist. Is it ridiculous, yes. Should it be illegal, probably. Is there anything that can be done about it, NO!

We are our own worst enemy here. Our government has created the mess we are in by failing to have an energy policy that included building new modern refineries to increase capacity and provide security to our nations energy reserves. I'll say it again, like many others... We have not built a refinery in this country since the 1970's. Our current refineries are old, they are operating at less than their capacity because they are constantly being rebuilt and refurbished. Many are located in areas that are dangerously close to hurricane prone areas. We are days and hours away from a major energy disaster and no one is lifting a finger to do anything.

That said, the immediate problem is putting money back in your pocket so that you can get to work, and put money back into the economy. They guy at the Quickie Mart needs your money and so does them man at the Quickie Lube and the woman at the Dry Cleaner and all the other people you deal with in your day to day life. Truckers need lower cost fuel to help keep the cost of your groceries lower. How can this be done? The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline (Gasohol) and Diesel can be suspended and this would drop prices 18 to 20 cents immediately. Congress and the President can work together to temporarily suspend these taxes. Second with the summer driving season comes the boutique blending of gasolines to reduce vehicle emissions. This drives the price of fuel up by at least 10 cents but by as much as 15 cents. The blending is an EPA regulation that can be suspended by the President. Both of these moves would help every American NOW.

You should take time to call your Member of Congress and Senators to demand that they work to suspend the Federal Excise taxes on Motor Fuels and call the White House to demand that the boutique blending on gasolines be suspended until gasoline prices fall as the result of market forces (not due to the suspension of the excise taxes) and not before. Congress and the President must hear from the American People. They must be pressured to take action NOW. They must be made to hear we are all fed up with this nonsense brought on by people playing on the Commodities Exchanges.

You should also demand that Congress legislate changes to allow for permitting of new refineries. We must have new refineries to protect our energy security and to achieve the amount of capacity we need to be able to meet the needs of the American people. We cannot depend on 40 year old facilities that could disappear at any time due to a natural or man made disaster. We have to know that our demands will be met. We have to know that when we pull up to the pump in our neighborhood or on the highway across the country that we are able to purchase low cost high quality fuels. We do not want to be forced to import refined gasoline into the United States.

Come on Congress! Come on Mr. President! You say you want to do something to save America's Energy Future... Put Up or Shut Up. We don't need or want Cap and Trade. We want Security and Low Cost Energy and we want it NOW!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

It is time for the Republican Party to Take Charge!

The Republican Party controls the United States House of Representatives which is one half of the Congress of the United States. The Democratic Party controls the United States Senate the other half of the Congress and the Presidency. The President has Veto power and with a super majority in both the House of Representatives and Senate being required to override a Presidential Veto; the upper hand in terms of power in terms of the Government lies with the Democratic Party, or so one would think.

The Constitution provides that the spending and taxing authority begins in the House of Representatives. The government cannot perform it's day to day operations without the funding approved by appropriations from the House of Representatives. The Senate cannot act until it receives legislation from the House. The President cannot sign a bill into law or veto it, until it has been passed by both houses of Congress. So, if a political party is going to have control of one of the two bodies in Congress, the power certainly is in the House of Representatives. That is not to say that the Senate does not have exclusivity, but when it comes to spending money, nothing happens unless it happens in the House.

The Senate is a fickle place with lots of rules. The minority in the Senate has many protections. These have been developed over the years by all parties who have had control of the Senate because they knew at some point they would lose control and would be once again in the minority. The most effective tool in the arsenal of the minority, say of any one Senator is the Filibuster. A single Senator can stop all legislative business for as long as that Senator can hold the floor. There are some fairly significant records when Senators have spoken on and on and on to make their position clear and generally gain some sort of compromise from the Senate. Whether it is a concession for a Senator's state or for a Senator's party this tool can be very effective. However, it is rarely ever used in this manner. What is used in the modern day Senate is an implied Filibuster. The threat of a Filibuster is enough to get the attention of the majority. If the Minority decides not to participate, the Majority cannot move forward without them if the Minority has at least 41 votes. If the Majority has 60 votes or more, then it is impossible for an implied Filibuster to be used.

Currently the Republican Party has 47 seats in the US Senate. This is 6 seats more than is needed to use an implied Filibuster. If all 47 Senators stay together they can effectively stop all Senate business, or they can prevent particular Senate business from being considered. This provides a considerable position for negotiation. The Majority cannot run rough shot over the Minority. In effect The Democratic Party cannot do anything unless at least 7 Republicans go along with them.

With Control of the House of Representatives, and the ability to shut down business in the Senate, the Republican Party has much more power than it has been exercising and much more than they have been putting forth to President Obama. It is time to take off the gloves. It is time to stand up and take charge. The Democrats cannot beat the Republican's into submission with lies about starving children, elderly, and poor. The Republicans can force the President and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to tell the truth. They can force them to come clean about spending and about taxes. They can force the President to lead or get out of the way.

I call upon Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader McConnell to get on with it and pull out all the stops. Stop going along to get along. Make the hard choices and show the American people that THEIR government can function in a way that is responsible and responsive. Stand up to the Media and tell them that business as usual is over and that the days of rhetoric have passed. Give us a government that will deliver to us a future we might not like but that we know our country will be proud of, one that does not rob its citizens of a dime more than is necessary to accomplish that goal, and one that spends not a penny more than is required to do a proper job.

We don't need a political campaign. We need someone to get off their ass and do the job! Thank you!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

What Congress Should Not Be!


I've had it with Congress, both Houses, and both Parties. I think it's time for a little REFORM we can all live with and here is a good start!


1. Congress Should Not Be Paid... any body that raises billions to be elected doesn't need millions of taxpayer dollars in salaries to survive for a term in office.


2. Congress Should Not Be the Recipient of a Benefits Package... whether a US Representative or a US Senator one term in office hardly qualifies someone for a healthy benefit package most folks have to earn over a long period of years to achieve and usually have to sacrifice a significant portion of their salary to obtain. No health care, retirement, or other benefits for being a public servant.


3. Congress Should Not Be In DC Longer Than 120 Days Per Year... Get with the program people, you have a job to do, pass the 13 appropriation bills and get the hell out of town. Don't we have enough laws? I mean really? If you need to declare a War, well sure come back for a "Special Session" but otherwise stay the hell in your district where you belong!


4. Congress Should Not Be Receiving Visits From Lobbyist While In Session... Do you get visits from sales people when you are at work, well maybe if you are a doctor, but hey maybe there are some really good drugs out there, and well maybe you will get a good box of pens and sticky notes. If Lobbyist wants to see you they can come to your District Office where your Constituents can see whose knocking at your door, not just wonder whose cozying up with you at the cloak room door where there aren't any cameras, or over at the lobby of the "Willard Hotel".


5. Congress Should Not Be Spending New Money if the Current Budget Is Not Balanced... Doesn't it just make sense that you can't spend more money you don't have if you are already spending money you don't have. Come on, how much deficit do you guys need. I don't know about you but I can't bring myself to push 2 for Spanish now and I sure as hell am not going to push 3 for Chinese...That's right and we don't even owe Mexico, South America, or Spain!


So, there you have it Congress... You Should Not Be Receiving Anything At All or Doing Anything but Your Job because YOU SUCK! YES I said it. Someone had to say it. People everywhere should be saying it. If we say it often enough and loud enough people will begin to believe it. People might even understand it and look to the Constitution for faith, guidance, and hope. At least they read the Constitution out loud in the well of the House, at least members there paid lip service to it. I don't know if the members of the Senate have a copy. Maybe they are still searching for theirs. Let's hope sooner or later the Speaker will send his copy over the Senate as a gesture of Good Will. Maybe then they will be on the same page, since it is really all on one page. Well there are some Amendments, but you get my point. It is not all that much to read. Congress needs to get it's act together and NOT BE A BUNCH OF WIMPS. DO YOUR JOB AND GO HOME!!!!

What Congress Should Not Be!


I've had it with Congress, both Houses, and both Parties. I think it's time for a little REFORM we can all live with and here is a good start!


1. Congress Should Not Be Paid... any body that raises billions to be elected doesn't need millions of taxpayer dollars in salaries to survive for a term in office.


2. Congress Should Not Be the Recipient of a Benefits Package... whether a US Representative or a US Senator one term in office hardly qualifies someone for a healthy benefit package most folks have to earn over a long period of years to achieve and usually have to sacrifice a significant portion of their salary to obtain. No health care, retirement, or other benefits for being a public servant.


3. Congress Should Not Be In DC Longer Than 120 Days Per Year... Get with the program people, you have a job to do, pass the 13 appropriation bills and get the hell out of town. Don't we have enough laws? I mean really? If you need to declare a War, well sure come back for a "Special Session" but otherwise stay the hell in your district where you belong!


4. Congress Should Not Be Receiving Visits From Lobbyist While In Session... Do you get visits from sales people when you are at work, well maybe if you are a doctor, but hey maybe there are some really good drugs out there, and well maybe you will get a good box of pens and sticky notes. If Lobbyist wants to see you they can come to your District Office where your Constituents can see whose knocking at your door, not just wonder whose cozying up with you at the cloak room door where there aren't any cameras, or over at the lobby of the "Willard Hotel".


5. Congress Should Not Be Spending New Money if the Current Budget Is Not Balanced... Doesn't it just make sense that you can't spend more money you don't have if you are already spending money you don't have. Come on, how much deficit do you guys need. I don't know about you but I can't bring myself to push 2 for Spanish now and I sure as hell am not going to push 3 for Chinese...That's right and we don't even owe Mexico, South America, or Spain!


So, there you have it Congress... You Should Not Be Receiving Anything At All or Doing Anything but Your Job because YOU SUCK! YES I said it. Someone had to say it. People everywhere should be saying it. If we say it often enough and loud enough people will begin to believe it. People might even understand it and look to the Constitution for faith, guidance, and hope. At least they read the Constitution out loud in the well of the House, at least members there paid lip service to it. I don't know if the members of the Senate have a copy. Maybe they are still searching for theirs. Let's hope sooner or later the Speaker will send his copy over the Senate as a gesture of Good Will. Maybe then they will be on the same page, since it is really all on one page. Well there are some Amendments, but you get my point. It is not all that much to read. Congress needs to get it's act together and NOT BE A BUNCH OF WIMPS. DO YOUR JOB AND GO HOME!!!!

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

As the Gavel passes...a new beginning in Washington...

Today the fruit of the vine ripened in Washington, DC despite the winter temperatures and the bitterness just below the surface in the new minority in the United States House of Representatives as John A. Boehner of Ohio accepted the Speaker's Gavel from Nancy Pelosi of California. The first thing on the agenda was a sweeping change in House Rules. No longer will American's have to worry that legislation in their Congress will be passed before they have a chance to have a peek at it online. Members of Congress will also have to cite the authority in the US Constitution used as a basis to draft legislation. Further, the centralized power of the Speaker's office will trickle down to the leadership and committee chairman. While these changes may appear to be over-simplification, they represent a serious change in attitude and a move to a truly transparent government. What began with the Contract with America in 1994 which was followed by the squandering of budget dollars and congressional control ending in 2006, may finally find our Congress doing the job they were sent to Washington, DC to do...

I have high hopes for Speaker Boehner and his leadership team. I believe that even though they will be forced to raise the debt ceiling over 14 trillion dollars sometime in the coming months, that real progress will be made in reigning in the sprawling footprint of the US Government and in facing the grim reality of the debt and deficit, and reforming of the entitlement programs Social Security and Medicare. This will not be an easy job and the new Speaker will have to be constantly vigilant to insure his majority stays together and gets the job done.

While going it alone is a distinct possibility as the Democrats learned in the last Congress, Speaker Boehner has already gone the extra mile to include Democrats in the first legislative effort, reforming the House Rules. He will not however receive much support when HR-2 hits the floor of the House, it is the bill to repeal the Health Care legislation passed last Christmas Eve. While House Democrats may bawk and vote NO, a majority of the American people want the whole thing scrapped and want market based reforms to replace the massive nationalization of up to 1/6th of the US economy. It will be a long two years and compromises certainly lay ahead for the House with the US Senate. Hopefully we will all be proud of what happens under the leadership of the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives.